In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Fort Bend County is now under a “stay-home-to-save-lives” order.

To remain healthy, we need to remain home, stay away from crowds, avoid social contact with others and wait until the contagion period has passed.

I can handle this.

For months, I’ve told myself if I ever get the time, there’s a long list of things around the house I want to do. Now I’m forced to stay at home, so it’s time to get busy and start in on the list.

First of all, I have to find the list.

I think it’s underneath the stack of unread magazines and unopened mail next to my computer. Since they go back two years, it’s a good shot the list is buried in there somewhere.

I sit down to go through everything, and find myself paging through an Oprah magazine, wondering how her designers can get a room to look that put together.

“Get to work,” the little voice in my head whispers. It’s right – forget the list. I can look around to see what needs to get done.

But where to start. There’s something to be tackled in almost every room, so I decide to start in the kitchen.

Too overwhelming.

So I elect to start in our bathroom and choose the top drawer under my sink. There’s prescription bottles in here dating back three years.

Better find out how to safely dispose of those, I think. I head to the computer, but that nagging voice tells me to stay put and finish one job before I start another one.

So I keep going through the drawer, making stacks. Here’s one for all the little soaps I’ve picked up in our travels.

I’ve thought about throwing those away, but if we’re going to be short on toilet paper because of the coronavirus, then I’d better hoard those.

Same with the trial sizes of shampoo and toothpaste I’ve been stockpiling in that drawer. And the three half-empty jars of Vicks VapoRub come in handy when I’ve got a stopped-up nose or a visiting grandchild has a pesky cough.

I probably don’t need all these loose Q-tips and cotton balls, but with this virus and the shelter in place, I’d better keep them.

An hour later, I end up keeping everything that was in the drawer. But at least there’s some order to the stuff.

Feeling accomplished, I figure it’s time for a much-needed break. I grab a couple of Oreo cookies and sit down to take a quick look at the news.

It’s depressing and devastating.

So I decide to take on something manageable – organize the T-shirts in my closet.

I take them all off the shelf, thinking they’d look nice organized by color. All the white shirts to the left and the rest to the right. That doesn’t quite work because most of my T-shirts are white.

Stacking the T-shirts on the shelf in a variety of colors looks better. At least, that’s the rationalization I use before starting in on organizing my shoes.

But first, it’s time for a break.

I surf through YouTube for an hour, avoiding all news about the coronavirus, until I remember I’m supposed to be organizing my shoes.

I find the shoes are somewhat orderly.

Most of them are matched up, even the ones with the worn-down heels and the ones I never wear any more. I can probably skip this job.

“Slacker” whispers the voice inside my head.

With all the bad things happening in the world, having organized T-shirts and shoes should be the very last thing on my to-do list.

Congratulating myself for following the law of the land, I sit down at the computer to see what everyone’s posting on Facebook.

If we all do our part, we just might come through this pandemic a stronger nation.

“If you keep eating all those Oreos, you’ll come out a much rounder citizen,” the voice tells me.

“Yeah, but I’ll be a much happier staying-home-to-save-lives citizen,” I reply.

I wonder if there’s any chocolate-chip cookies in the pantry…

 

        This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.